Amazon Go vs. the low rate of employment and the high rate of security risk

Amazon Go is a new kind of retail without checkout requirement. The first store opened on 5 December 2016, in Seattle, the hometown of Amazon. The principle of Amazon Go is same as that of the self-driving car: computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning. It allows people to purchase products without using the cashier or the checkout station. For some people, Amazon Go makes them feel like they are living in the future. In the next few years, Amazon Go plans to open in other cities in the US or the outside of the US.

However, there are two things behind the Amazon Go which can’t be ignored: the unemployment rate and the security risk. On the one hand, a lot of people may lose their jobs thanks to Amazon Go. In front of the rising of Amazon Go, Shanthi points out that ‘A New York Post article was very critical of this blatant move toward automation. Quoting Labor Department data for May 2015, the article said the move would jeopardise the future of the 856,850 cashiers employed in grocery stores'(2016, para 12). If the pattern of Amazon Go is promoted to the entire world, around 75 percent of typical grocery store staff may have to leave their jobs. Plus, Amazon is trying to use the drone to deliver the package, which means the number of the postal clerk will be decreased as well.

On the other hand, Amazon Go pushes people to the brink of the security. There are two reasons for this. First of all, Amazon Go requires people to download the app, creating an Amazon account online and using a smartphone (Michael 2017), which means it totally depends on the Internet. As a result, everyone’s account could be hacked by strangers. Besides, Amazon uses the same technology as the self-driving car, the so-called Artificial intelligence. Therefore, the computer would know everything about buyers. Our personal information such as bank account, behaviours, and lifestyles are all exposed. Secondly, Amason Go might provide a good opportunity for manufacturers to increase sales, but it also leads to the excessive consumption of people. Without checkout requirement, people would feel free to go shopping. They don’t have to wait in lines and scan the items in front of checkout station, they just pick up what they want and leave. However, this amazing feeling could encourage people to buy excessive products. They will buy some items which they do not need to. So, on some level, Amazon Go might lead to waste and personally economic risk.